New Publications

Rethinking Labour - Ethical Reflections on the Future of Work

The Caritas in Veritate Foundation is pleased to present our tenth working paper. Recent decades have witnessed the consolidation of a global economic system strongly characterised by exclusion and inequality as a result of a largely excessive and misplaced trust in the omnipotence of the markets. Today, the distortions and dysfunctions of the free market economy tend to adversely affect the lives of individuals and communities more than ever before. Consequently, work itself, together with its dignity, is increasingly at risk of losing its value as a “good” for the human person and becoming merely a means of exchange within asymmetrical social relations. This calls us to rethink and reconsider what labour is and what it means for the economy, society, policy- and decision-makers and the human being, as presented in the ILO’s Centenary Initiative on the Future of Work.

By integrating the human dimension, the centrality of human dignity, and the common good within discussions on the future of work, this present paper intends to find answers to some of the current concerns and questions raised: Can we develop and improve new policies to ensure decent work for all? Does the youth have a fair chance in the world of work? What are the implications on the labour market due to the record levels of international migration? How can we put technology at the service of the human being? How can digitalisation contribute to more and better jobs, higher incomes and working standards?

The crucial role played by work finds a consistent recognition in the Christian tradition and offers us a guide to “rethink labour” by not only including the economic component but, more importantly, the social dimension.

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Universal Access to Medicines - Ethical Reflections on Ending Pediatric HIV

The Caritas in Veritate Foundation is pleased to present our eleventh working paper. The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is a basic human right. In the last decades, despite formal recognition of the right to health, its full enjoyment remains, for millions of people around the world, an elusive goal, due to obstacles in access to high quality, accessible, affordable, and acceptable life-saving medicines. Among the challenges experienced by many countries, there is a predominant emphasis on profitability of medicines and diagnostic tools, resulting in prohibitive price structures. This is the case for many people living with HIV and for millions of people to continue to be newly infected by this illness. Even though there has been much progress with the development of antiretroviral medicines for adults, children living with HIV have not been accorded priority attention in this field. These children are part of our future; they experience much suffering during their brief lives. Without access to early diagnosis and antiretroviral treatment, more than one-third of them die before their first birthday, and one-half die before their second birthday.

International efforts to address these serious challenges already have been undertaken by the Holy See, in collaboration with UNAIDS, PEPFAR, WHO, Caritas Internationalis, WCC-EAA, EGPAF, governments, private industry engaged in developing and producing pharmaceuticals and diagnostic tools, and faith-based organizations providing such services or engaged in advocacy related to pediatric HIV. Some of these projects are presented and explained in this publication.

Without continued, timely, effective and cooperative actions, HIV will continue to claim the lives of too many children and adolescents. There is an urgent need to implement attainable and measurable milestones in the efforts to end HIV among children by 2020 in order to “leave no child living with HIV behind”. The collaboration between international organizations, governments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and faith-based organizations is the key to close the gap between good intentions and the reality on the field.

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Education as a Driver to Integral Growth and Peace - Ethical Reflections on the Right to Education

The Caritas in Veritate Foundation is pleased to present our twelfth working paper. “Isn’t education, in its whole meaning, one of the most essential and vital parts for the existence of every human group? Our future depends on how we live it and how people take this art of generating life to heart.” Every child has a right to receive life skills, to strengthen his/her capacities to enjoy the full range of human rights and to promote a culture infused by appropriate human rights values. Education is a mission, enabling every child to develop personalities, self-esteem, self-confidence, talents and abilities and to live a satisfying and dignified life. However, not only do 258 million children and youths worldwide still lack access to education but childhood is also facing new emerging global challenges with, among others, the rise of new conflicts and mass migration, environmental change, and digital technology. The 30th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides a unique occasion to take stock of the progress made since its adoption, that considers children as persons with their own rights and responsibilities to be protected, promoted and respected. This publication proposes to analyze and offer guidelines to some of the challenges and concerns raised, by integrating an ethical perspective to the right to education and giving voice to people who, having embraced the duty to shape the youth with a strong and robust consciousness of life, dedicate their lives and careers to the pursuit of quality and inclusive education. With centuries of experience and through educational institutions worldwide, the Catholic Church continues to be one of the main providers of education.

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Human Fraternity in Cyberspace - Ethical Challenges and Opportunities

The Caritas in Veritate Foundation is pleased to present our thirteenth working paper. In every corner of the world, human beings have increasingly become dependent on digital media and the latter makes a significant contribution to our daily life. Cyberspace represents a relatively new domain for interactions among peoples and among States. While this is the product of extraordinary achievements in science and in data-processing technology brought about by human ingenuity, and thus fostering prosperity and peace, intellectual growth, and access to education resources, it can also be exploited for malevolent purposes. What was initially experienced as an expression of freedom and relationship, has resulted in a field characterized by expansion without verification and possibility of control, limitless sharing of volumes of information, the fear for maintaining the integrity of one’s identity, the risk of losing personal data, and the primacy of technology over knowledge. A new arena for competition and potential conflict has emerged, becoming another ground of confrontation among States. As the line between security and peace, civilian and military applications, becomes increasingly blurred, the publication suggests that it would be opportune and beneficial to agree at the international level on a shared normative legal framework to guide actions in cyberspace and to develop a culture of responsibility as well as an ethics of fraternity and peaceful interactions in the context of cyberspace. Only then can cyberspace remain a safe domain reserved for peaceful purposes, cooperation, and mutual enrichment at the service of the common good.

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